Dr. LaNitra M. Berger is an award-winning scholar and social justice educator who is making higher education more accessible to underrepresented students. She is an associate professor of history and art history and director of African and African American Studies at George Mason University. Her scholarly interests are in art and social activism in the African and Jewish diasporas. From 2010-2022, Berger directed GMU’s Office of Fellowships, where she helped students secure more than $2 million in national fellowships such as the Fulbright, Gilman, Truman, and National Science Foundation awards. Berger is the immediate past president and board chair of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, where she led the 10,000-member organization through its post-pandemic transition and its 75th anniversary celebrations. She is the author of Irma Stern and the Racial Paradox of South African Modern Art: Audacities of Color and the editor of Social Justice and International Education: Research, Practice, and Perspectives.
